(MONEY Magazine) – America is full of foods that are deeply woven into the fabric of their local regions while remaining virtually unknown in other parts of the country. But what if you don't have the time to travel hither and thither and still want an authentic taste of America? Happily, many regional favorites are available via mail order, which is a godsend for homesick expats and curious foodies alike. Here are some of the more interesting ones and sources for ordering them. (Prices include shipping unless otherwise stated.)

With the backyard grilling season getting into full swing, it's a good time for spiedies (pronounced spee-deez), which are cubes of pork, lamb or beef that have been soaked in a special marinade, then skewered, grilled and served on soft Italian bread. Ubiquitous in eateries all over Binghamton, N.Y., spiedies are a classic example of a self-contained food subculture. Back in 1999 I wrote in this column about Sharkey's, the city's premier spiedie venue, but you need not trek Binghamton-ward to experience spiedies--you can make your own if you've got the right marinade. My favorite brand is Salamida's Original State Fair Spiedie Sauce, made by the Rob Salamida Co. (800-545-5072; www.spiedie.com; four bottles of marinade for $17.50).

Sometimes regional specialties are lurking beneath better-known food scenes. Cincinnati, for example, is famous among food cognoscenti for its chili. But there's another, lower-profile Queen City specialty: goetta (pronounced geh-tuh), a German-style breakfast sausage made from pork, steel-cut oats and spices. Goetta is on the menu at most Cincinnati breakfast joints, sold in local supermarkets and sometimes available as a pizza topping. In any context, it's great stuff, thanks in large part to the oats, which make goetta much heartier and more toothsome than most other sausages. To taste for yourself, contact Cincinnati's top goetta manufacturer, Glier's Meats (800-446-3882; www.goetta.com; six one-pound sticks for $35.50).

America's most storied food region is the Deep South, which most people associate with barbecue and soul food. But there are many less celebrated but no less worthy southern foods, my favorite of which is boiled peanuts--unroasted peanuts boiled in their shells in salted water for a long time. Sold in stores and roadside stands in Alabama, Georgia, northern Florida and South Carolina, they're eaten while still wet, making for a wonderfully briny snack. The best source for them is Lee Bros. (843-720-8890; www.boiledpeanuts.com; five pounds for $24.50, shipping varies by customer location), whose excellent catalogue also features a variety of other southern specialties, including sorghum, pickled ramps (Appalachian wild garlic), poke salet (greens from the pokeweed plant) and black walnuts.

Perhaps no product category has become more inhospitable to small, regional producers than the ruthlessly consolidated candy market, where Hershey, Mars and Nestle have bought up many of the small brands and used their distribution muscle to squeeze out most others. One of the few remaining independent regional candy bars is the Idaho Spud, which, as its name suggests, is shaped like the state's signature cash crop. But don't worry--the Spud isn't potato-flavored. It features a chocolate marshmallow center coated with dark chocolate and coconut. A Northwest favorite since 1918, it's available from the Idaho Candy Co. (800-898-6986; www.idahospud.com; a box of 24 bars for $21).

Despite the best efforts of Coke and Pepsi to create a carbonated hegemony across America, a surprising number of regional sodas continue to thrive. There's the nicely vanilla-accented Vernor's Ginger Ale in Michigan, the spicier Blenheim's Ginger Ale in the Carolinas, the coffee-flavored Manhattan Special in New York City and the description-defying Moxie in New England (as a friend once put it, "It just tastes brown"), among many, many others. To get an idea of what's out there and to stock up on cold drinks for the hot summer months--in glass bottles, no less--contact the Soda Shop (480-994-4505; www.popsoda.com) or Ifs Ands & Butts (888-712-8887; www.ifsandsbutts.com), both of which offer wonderfully wide selections of hard-to-find sodas.

Regional beverages go beyond sodas. On a recent trip to Rhode Island, I learned of coffee milk, a delicious Ocean State favorite that's similar to chocolate milk, only coffee-flavored. It's actually the official state drink, but non-Rhode Islanders can enjoy it by ordering coffee syrup from Autocrat (800-288-6272; www.autocrat.com; six bottles for $20).

Some of these products, and lots more like them, are available from Hometown Favorites (888-694-2656; www.hometownfavorites.com; $20 minimum order), a mail-order operation specializing in regional foodstuffs. Another good resource is Allison and Margaret Engel's book, Food Finds: America's Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them (Quill/HarperCollins, $18). Both are welcome reminders that despite the seemingly relentless encroachment of cookie-cutter chains like Chili's and Applebee's, there's still plenty of local flavor out there.

Paul Lukas grew up in Blue Point, Long Island, namesake of the bluepoint oyster.